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Peppers Cause Chemical Scare in London

LONDON (Reuters) – “It was initially thought to be a chemical problem. Somebody smelled what they thought was chemicals. So we went there, cordoned it off and assisted the fire brigade,” a police spokesman said.

The ambulance service dispatched a Hazardous Area Response Team unit to Monday night’s alarm.

Firefighters dressed in special suits broke down the doors and discovered the source of the smell: chef Chalemchai Tangjariyapoon’s fiery signature nam prik pao chilli sauce.

The complete article can be found here – talk about a potent hot sauce! I can understand the reaction to the smell if he was producing extract, but a regular chili sauce? Now that’s a sauce I’d like to try!

It’s actually on the AFP story:
“The chef was cooking about nine pounds (four kilograms) of dried chillies at the time.

To make the sauce, he would have added them to four and a half pounds of garlic flakes, two pounds of dried shrimp, six and a half pounds of palm sugar, two and a half pounds of shrimp paste, two pounds of tamarind and nine pints of vegetable oil.”

Only in the relative saftey of America can we call it an ‘over reaction’. Reports of ‘strange odors’ *especially* those with irritating symptoms, are one of the very first signs we’re taught to recognize in chemical attacks. I’m sure several people thought “juicy fruit gum” when the Sarin was released in Japan.